While this weekend saw a pre-Halloween bloodbath at the domestic box office, activity in international markets was less fear-inducing. This weekend was a last bastion beachfront where films had a chance to motor ahead before James Bond and Spectre take center stage. That led to some intriguing developments — but not…

If ever a weekend left distributors perplexed about how to deliver audiences for movies that deserve them, this was the one. Rarely do you see this many films on a weekend that came with backstories that amounted to cautionary tales about how hard the distribution business is for challenging movies.
This most glaring…

FINAL UPDATE, MONDAY 3:30 PM PT: Director Ridley Scott's The Martian, which returned to the top of international and domestic box office in its 4th weekend, is within shouting distance of $400 million worldwide with $385.66M. The 20th Century Fox picture's foreign cume is $218.47M and domestic comes to $166.19M…

5TH UPDATE, Sunday 8:20 AM Final:In a weekend with distributors offering five wide entries, most of which were paltry, audiences decided what was old was new for them as 20th Century Fox’s The Martian shot its way back to No. 1 with an estimated $15.9M and $166.4M. Sony’s Goosebumps chased behind in No. 2 with a…

If there was ever a weekend when distributors were looking to cannibalize one another this is the one, as five fresh wide releases are hitting theaters. What gives? One reason is that most distributors want to avoid Halloween next weekend (October 30-November 1), which is falling on a Saturday. The holiday is expected…

How’s this for a nightmare scenario? You’re checking out an open house at a swell-looking property, and while you’re touring around, weird stuff starts happening. Whether you’re buying or just eyeing, when the bathroom mirror shatters on its own, any potential deal has fallen through.
Well, the fiendish folks…

After pushing the next installment of its Friday The 13thback eight months from March 13 to November 13, Paramount Pictures is kicking Jason again — this time to 2016 with a release on Friday, May 13. Currently occupying that slot is an untitled R-rated comedy from Universal Pictures. The latest rendition of Friday Th…

Paramount has moved up next year’s release of horror comedy Scouts Vs. Zombies from March 13 to February 20 and moved Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (formerly Paranormal Activity 5) into that March 13 slot. It initially was slated for October 25, 2014. The shift pits Scouts Vs. Zombies up against Open Road’s…